Zealous Waltz
by Mystical Authoress
Summary: Takes place post-game and post-manga/anime. Basically, a collection of TheriusxMeister oneshots.
1. Dance Lesson

**Author note: I don't own the Last Story or Yakitate! Japan, nor do I own Therius or Meister Kirisaki.**

**...I don't know why, but I just have the urge to pair them together, with the two being the sophisticated guys they are! XD So, this is going to be a collection of oneshots centered around none other than Therius and Meister in a romantic way. I hope this turns out well. :)**

**Warning: Takes place post-game and post-anime/manga, TheriusxMeister, and possible spoilers for Yakitate! Japan or the Last Story. I might have to post up other warnings for later oneshots, but I'll make sure to do so when the time comes.**

**Constructive Criticism would be great, and I hope you guys read, review and enjoy! Thanks!**

* * *

_**Zealous Waltz**_

* * *

_1. Dance Lesson_

Summary: A ball is coming up, and Meister learns that Therius cannot dance. Therefore, Meister decides to teach him, in the hope that the young knight will be able to learn quickly. Part-way through the whole thing, though, Syrenne and Lowell decide to watch.

Characters: Therius, Meister, unnamed court musician, Syrenne, Lowell

Pairing: MeisterxTherius

* * *

"You must be _joking,_ Sir Therius." Meister Kirisaki spoke with a hint of amusement in his voice, crossing his arms across his chest. "You don't know how to dance? I find it surprising, considering that you are occasionally at the fancy balls the places in the Empire hold..."

"To be a knight, I had to hone my skills of the sword and other things. I did not have time to learn to move about fancifully." Therius responded, looking up at the older man. The white-haired knight didn't have time for such things, obviously, as it wasn't necessary to be in his repertoire of skills. "Why should I bother learning if I have no use for it, Sylvan?"

The older man let out a sigh, strands of his long, blond hair shifting slightly as he shook his head. "Therius, dancing is a very common social activity among people, even in Japan where I come from. Lacking that social skill of dance is basically kissing the chance of being able to connect with people_ goodbye_." He explained quietly. "And doesn't it seem terrible when you're the only one leaning against the wall in a ballroom while everyone else is dancing with someone? Or what if you have taken affection for someone _special_, and she wants to dance with you? That would surely be terrible, wouldn't it?" Meister finished, uncrossing his arms and letting them fall by his sides.

"Hm...You have a point." Therius muttered quietly, thinking about the 'someone special' he had in mind. Meister had a point about that, but the thing was, the someone special was not a she. It was a _he_, and that he was the older man standing right in front of him.

It was really odd of how Therius grew to have this sort of affectionate feeling towards Meister, but the two had seemed to be fine with each other in the beginning, as friends...of course, that was then. This was now, and the man Therius admired so much was technically offering to teach him how to dance. Surely it couldn't be too terrible, could it?

Meister smiled at him a little bit, extending his hand towards Therius. "Will you not grant me this dance, Sir Therius?"

Okay, it was obvious now. Meister wanted to teach him how to dance.

Therius almost smiled at the idea of it all. "What do you mean? Of course I'll accept your request." The younger man responded quietly, taking Meister's hand in his.

"Alright, then." Meister quickly stood in front of Therius, and made Therius' left hand hold Meister's right hand. He placed Therius' right hand about his back. "Hold the lady's back firmly." Meister spoke. Therius did so. "Good. Now, slide your left foot forward..."

Therius slowly and awkwardly slid his left foot forward. Honestly, he didn't think that it was going to feel so awkward for him to be so close, distance-wise, to Meister. He did his best to hide his embarassment, averting his gaze from Meister's face.

"Hm. That's good. Next would be the natural turn..."

Therius just quietly learned the steps, and the one he admired seemed to be pleased with the progress.

"Hm...Therius?"

Therius looked up. "Yes?"

"Try not to hang from the lady-it shows a lack of effort in the dance, especially if you're dancing with ladies taller than you." Meister spoke up, trying his best not to chuckle with amusement.

Therius let out a sigh. "Meister, you're too tall...No lady would ever be as tall as you, I swear. Of _course_ I would end up hanging from you because of that." The white-haired knight muttered quietly in response. "Honestly, Sylvan, I was hoping you would have noticed that fact a bit sooner..."

Meister let go of Therius, his head tilting slightly as he let out a huff. "Honestly, Sir Therius, do you need to be so blunt?" Meister spoke up mock-angrily as a way to try to cover a smirk. "I thought you knights would have an idea of when to keep their mouths in check."

Therius let out a scowl at the remark, trying to hide his amusement at his admirer's actions. "And honestly, Meister Kirisaki, I thought that you were supposed to be teaching me how to waltz, not to chastise me for my mouth." He responded, before the two broke into a brief chuckle of amusement.

"True, true." Meister agreed, taking a deep breath to calm himself. He looked around, before continuing. "I suppose that considering the fact that you have actually learned how to waltz, now, we need to put it to music. We need a court musician or someone who can play a decent waltz on a piano or something..."

* * *

It didn't take too long to find a court musician, who was completely bewildered by the fact that Therius apparently needed to actually _practice _waltzing, and with not another woman, but another _man _nonetheless. When the court musician let the latter part of this slip out, Therius and Meister gave him glares that seemed to say_ 'Just do it or else we'll get you fired somehow.' _The musician then decided it was much better to keep his mouth shut and just do as he was ordered.

"A-are you sure that you just need me to play a waltz?" The poor court musician asked.

Syrenne let out a scowl. "Oy, just start playin', will ya!? They're waiting, you know!" The red-haired ex-mercenary responded, crossing her arms after gesturing towards Meister and Therius. She and Lowell were leaning against a nearby wall, watching quietly. During the time of searching for a court musician, Therius and Meister ran into Syrenne and Lowell, who were more than happy enough to help.

Meister doubted, of course, that it was because they wanted to help Therius learn to dance. It was probably so they could watch and hope that he or Therius would make some embarrassing mistake for the two ex-mercenaries' amusement...

Meister signaled the musician to start playing the piano, and he and Therius got into position for the waltz.

"Ready?" Meister asked. Therius nodded, before they started.

_One, two, three, one, two three..._

Eventually Therius stopped counting in his head and looked up at Meister, who appeared to be smiling faintly. Keeping eye contact with the one you were dancing with was something you were supposed to do, at least when waltzing. The two slowly relaxed into the dance, losing themselves into it.

They would have lost themselves completely if Lowell hadn't told the court musician to start playing two times the speed of what the waltz originally went at.

A few fumbled steps, a couple times of stepping on each other's feet, and down to the floor the two went.

Therius almost expected his head to be cracked open, or Meister's, closing his eyes upon impact. When he blinked open his eyes, he realized two things. The first was that none of them seemed to be injured. The other was that Meister was on top of him and his mouth was touching Therius' own.

The accidental kiss didn't last long, and Meister was immediately getting up and helping the younger male sit up when Syrenne and Lowell burst into laughter. Therius tried to glare at the two ex-mercenaries but failed, his blush of embarrassment replacing the scowl quickly.

"That was bloody unexpected!" Lowell remarked, still chuckling. "Seriously, Therius, that was _genius_ to trip the Meister!"

"I didn't mean to!" Therius tried to argue back, still failing to restrain himself from blushing. He glanced at Meister who seemed to look a bit flustered as well. "Will you two stop laughing!? You're embarrassing the both of us!"

Meister seemed to regain his composure by now, and joined into the chuckles. "Sir Therius," He started, "As much as I enjoyed that just now, I'm afraid I have to tell you that kissing the one you admire romantically during the waltz is not exactly the way to end it. You should be bowing to them or kissing their hand, not kissing them full on the mouth."

Therius let out a sigh, and let himself expose a small smile to the others. At least it didn't happen at the actual ball, and at least it wasn't in front of a billion people. If there was one thing he was happy about, it was the fact that he got to dance with the one he admired so much.


	2. Test Subject

_2. Test Subject_

Summary: Therius has a good reason to panic. Meister walks in ten minutes later to see his boy-who-is-romantically-involved-with-him with cat ears and a tail, all thanks to Yurick and Mirania wanting to try to create some potions. "Therius...you're a neko all along?" "Wha-I don't even know what a neko is, but I'm not!"

Characters: Therius, Yurick, Mirania, Meister

Pairings: neko!TheriusxMeister

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"What? Stop staring at me like that!" Therius snapped, crossing his arms as he looked at the two mages. "What is it? Was there actually a reaction to your creation?"

"Erm, yes, Therius..." Mirania trailed off, stepping a bit closer. "You might want to look..." She grabbed a small mirror from the side and extended it towards Therius' face.

Therius stared at his reflection, blinking a bit before rubbing his eyes to make sure that he wasn't dreaming. Nope, he wasn't...

"I have...cat ears..." The white-haired knight trailed off, completely shocked.

"That's not all. You've got a tail, too." Yurick spoke up as he pointed. Therius turned around to see a long, white tail sticking out from behind. "I think that potion Mirania and I made turned you into some sort of anthromorphic being..."

Anthromorphic being? Therius did _not _like where this was going.

"I can't look a cat forever!" The knight exclaimed, still looking at his cat ears and tail. "Meister Kirisaki is arriving at Lazulis Castle about fifteen minutes from now to visit! I can't have him seeing me like this!" He paused, before speaking up again. "Can't-can't you make an antidote, quickly!?"

Mirania and Yurick exchanged glances. "Well, I'm sure that's possible, but in fifteen minutes?" Mirania asked. Therius nodded, frantic. "We can try, but don't count on it." She turned towards Yurick. "I think I might have some herbs that can undo curses. That might help."

"True." Yurick paused before looking at his notes again. "Go get those, Mirania. I'll start mixing the formula for that potion again. Maybe if we add those herbs to it, it can reverse the effects." Mirania nodded, before rushing out of the room. Therius let out a sigh, beginning to pace around the room. He hoped that Sylvan wouldn't arrive anytime soon...

* * *

Mirania let out a sigh of relief as she walked down the hall, carrying a small box of herbs in hand. Hopefully these herbs could help Therius get back to normal, before Meister arrived-

"Mirania-san? Is that you?" She blinked, before turning around to face the masked General Manager of Pantasia.

He had arrived. Five minutes early.

Therius was doomed. Unless_-wait!_ She could distract Meister. Or at least, she hoped she could somehow.

"Uh, Sylvan, nice to see you again." She greeted him. "You arrived earlier than expected..."

"Should I have not come so quickly? I thought I was late." Meister responded, pushing a lock of blond hair behind his ear. "Perhaps I could find Therius, then? Do you know where he is?"

"Erm, well, I think he's getting changed in his room. He wanted to look his best before you arrived." Mirania lied as cooly as she could. "I don't think he'll mind you waiting outside his room, though."

"I see. Thank you, Mirania-san." Meister gave her a small nod and started to walk in the opposite direction from her. Mirania mentally let out a sigh of relief and started to walk down the hall.

Meister paused. Something wasn't right. He turned towards her.

"Mirania-san? Are you sure that you're telling the truth?"

Mirania started walking faster.

"Wait!"

* * *

"Where's Mirania?" Yurick muttered in frustration. "She should be back by now-"

The door opened to reveal Mirania. Right behind her was Meister Kirisaki. Yurick swallowed nervously, as Therius stared in disbelief.

Meister stared at Therius, his eyes widening from behind his mask. He paused, before speaking, his tone of voice obviously surprised.

"Therius...you're a neko all along?" Meister asked, taking a step forward to take a closer look at the cat ears and tail that the white-haired knight currently sported.

"Wha-I don't even know what a neko is, but I'm not!" Therius protested, taking a step back and blushing a little bit. "It's-it's all Yurick and Mirania's fault for needing the most available test subject for some experiments! I wanted them to change me back before you arrived-hey!" He batted one of Meister's out-stretched hands that was attempted to stroke one of the cat ears. "Y-you don't need to pet them!"

"I actually find it somewhat adorable on you, Therius." Meister spoke, smirking slightly as Therius blushed further. "When will those things disappear and you become back to normal?" He asked, changing the subject.

"Well," Yurick spoke up, crossing his arms, "I'm not sure, but if we can't figure out an antidote, we should hope it wears off in the next twenty-four hours."

Meister seemed to smirk, glancing at Therius, who shuddered a bit. "Twenty-four hours would be alright, I suppose." Meister spoke, amused. "I would love to see what he's like as a neko, anyway. I do adore animals..."

"I'm not a neko!" Therius finally snapped, still trying to hide embarrassment. "And who are you calling animal, bird man!? You've got feathers sticking out from behind your mask and you look like a bird somewhat!"

"Bird man?" Meister retorted in a mock-anger tone, smiling a little. "My, my, I never thought you would resort to that, Sir Therius...And you are a neko, because you've got animal traits right now!"

"Don't you dare call me a neko again!"

"Alright, kitty."

"Stop that!"

Mirania and Yurick did nothing but watch as the banter between the two continued. They never got around to making the antidote. Fortunately for Therius, the potion's effects did wear off by the next day, which he was completely grateful for.


End file.
